Storing and breaking up Packs

[Firkin]

Hi all,

Another newbie question, I buy all my my starter cultures etc in bigger packs, i.e, 1 pack does up to 20 batches of cheese, I would like to open and seperate the cultures, for instance my pack does 500 litres's(130 galons) of cheese, it comes in a small foil type bag, can I open the bag, seperate cultures into equal portions, place back inside small coin bags, or dime bags, and then into brown paper bags or envelopes and back into the freezer.

[linuxboy]

Yes:

1) be as sanitary as possible
2) dunk bag in bleach solution if possible
3) wear gloves
4) do it in a draft-free area

I would store in plastic vials, like the centrifuge or small blood vials. Easier to work with, easier to seal with a screw cap.

[Tomer1]

Yep ,tiny glass vials (should be sterilized and dried first or heated in an oven and left in a sealed container to cool down) are your best options.

[Trey Magnus]

I have been considering the same thing as those small packets are so expensive.
I like the tiny glass vial idea but was wondering if there would be a benefit to using a colored vial (amber, blue, green) vs a clear one?

[linuxboy]

Yes, you can color code them easier that way. Like all blue ones can be aromatic mesos, or something like that.